Share your rankings of the dark rides in terms of scariness

[deanimal]

We're planning a 3 day trip with a 2 1/2 year old and 3 1/2 year old and I'd love to hear your opinions about which order to do the dark rides in Fantasyland. We were there a couple months ago for half a day before a cruise, but we mainly stuck to the outdoor rides and shows. We didn't do any of the dark rides in Fantasyland, but the kids loved Winnie the Pooh.
I was thinking that on this next trip we'd try to get in some of the dark rides, but I'm concerned that some of them may be too scary since my kids are pretty sensitive. My plan was to start with the least frightening, then work my way up, stopping if my kids start finding things too scary and saving the rest of the rides for another trip.
Would anyone be able to rank these rides for me from the least scary to the most scary? It would also be cool to be able to see your opinions on an index of 1-10.For example, if Winnie the Pooh is a 1 out of 10, what is Mr Toad? I know not everyone will agree , but its always great to hear everyone's opinions.

 

[sonnyjane]

First of all, you can find youtube videos of the rides in their entirety which may help you make this decision yourself since you know your kids best

That said, of the dark rides in Disneyland (I'll include Winnie the Pooh, which is not in Fantasyland, since you mentioned it specifically).

Least scary to most scary (in my opinion):

Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh (possibly scary because of the acid trip heffalump room...)
Alice in Wonderland
Pinocchio
Mr. Toad
Snow White

I will say that those last three are all pretty comparable though. I really suggest watching the ride videos on youtube though so you can decide if something is or isn't too much for them

 

[ArchOwl]

Does IASW count as a dark ride? If so, I would start with that.

IASW
Winnie the Pooh
Peter Pan
(All of these were well-tolerated by my very young relatives)
Alice in Wonderland (the outside part is a nice little break)
Mr. Toad (at least in my experience, I think having a steering wheel and driving eases some of the scariness)
Pinocchio (this was the cut off for most of my nieces and nephews)
Snow White (absolutely refused to do..."scary is its name!")

Hope that helps!

 

[Sillysox]

Sorry posted reply to the wrong thread.

 

[sonnyjane]

Yes I've been wondering about this too. I was actually wondering if there is any chance they would still allow parents to double up with their small children in a seat? We've been to Disneyland twice, the first time The Matterhorn was closed and the second trip we were on time restraints and never ended up braving the lines. So we've never been on it yet! I'm kinda bummed that we missed out on the old seating arrangement, because even though I'm really afraid of coasters I had been looking forward to experiencing this ride for the first time, while holding on to my equally coaster-shy kids lol! Hope we will be able to enjoy it seated separately...or that I'll even be able to get my kids on it...

I think you accidentally responded to the wrong thread

 

[skiingfast]

Least scary to most scary (in my opinion):

Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh (possibly scary because of the acid trip heffalump room...)
Alice in Wonderland
Pinocchio
Mr. Toad
Snow White

I'd go with the same order above, and like Archowl, if including Small World put that first as the least scary.

 

[Sillysox]

I think you accidentally responded to the wrong thread

Yuppers, sorry about that! LOL

But to reply to this thread, I would agree with some of the above assessments of the dark rides.
(All of these rankings are based on the assumption that your children are not afraid of darkness itself! lol. Some of these rides are darker than others and that might change the scare factor of these rides somewhat, tho small world would still rank least scary)

Ranked from least to most scary:

1)Small World would be most toddler's delight I think
2)Peter Pan is fabulous, I don't think is scary at all, there is a scene with captain hook, but it's not menacing that I can remember, (this ride ranks up there as one of my fave rides, incidentally lol!)
3)Winnie the Pooh. I personally like this one the least of all the dark rides, but I can agree with the others' concept that the Heffalump scene might be a bit scary for wee ones...my daughter used to be traumatized by that scene in the movie
4) Alice in Wonderland (has some black light parts) and
5)Pinnochio are both about the same I think
6) Mr Toads Wild ride, if I remember right the last scene might be a bit scary for little ones, but maybe only a smidge more than the last two.
7) Snow White, but actually I *might* really rank Snow White after the next couple of rides. It's pretty creepy, same kind of creepy feel as the witch scenes in the movie and the scene where snow white is lost in the scary forest takes a big part of the ride also. How do your little ones handle that? This one is probably highly subjective.
8)Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. This one hasn't been mentioned, but it's pretty fun.. has lots of neon and lots to look at, plus kiddies can play with the "laser gun"
9)Roger Rabbits Cartoon spin, another one that hasn't been mentioned. I personally really like this ride, you will have to decide if your children can handle a dark ride that is zany, colorful, and has black lighting (glowing teeth!),and has spinnable cars (but you can control them) So If your little ones make it this far and can handle the teacups, then definitely give this one a whirl, it's fun! (one thing though, it's quite loud)


Is that it?

Lol well, of course there's Pirates of the Caribbean!!! if your kiddies get through all of the above then you might try for Pirates. The scariest parts are the small drops and a storm scene with thunder and a simulated rainstorm with skeletons at the helm of a ship. If you can, try not to miss this one, even if you need to do child-swap with another adult

And yes---absolutely watch the ride-throughs on youtube!!

 

[deanimal]

Thanks for all the feedback! Its good to see that there's some agreement. I guess its pretty safe to say that if they're getting scared by Alice its time to stop.
I just remembered the Little mermaid ride at California Adventure. Does anyone know where that would fit in with the others?

 

[coaches24]

My DD was 2 our first trip and she was apprehensive about getting on some of the rides but loved most of them. She loved POC, and Peter Pan. She didnt like spinning fast on the tea cups but was ok if we just sat there and let it do its thing. She road all the rides in fantasy land without an issue. She was usually scared as we got on the ride but then once things started she was ok. She didnt make a fuss before getting on the ride and we didnt force her onto anything, she would just hide her head on my or my DWs leg.

HM she wasnt real fond of but she did go on it twice without an issue. She loved Dumbo but not the rocket one over by Buzz light year. She wanted nothing to do with fast rides.

Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, POC, and playing in toon town were her favorite things. We couldnt walk past the carousel without her wanting to go on it. Even if she had just gone a little while before. WTP was perfect for when we wanted to go on Splash Mountain. One of us would go on it and the other would go on Pooh with our DD. Then the other would take her back on Pooh after we switched for splash.

 

[ArchOwl]

Thanks for all the feedback! Its good to see that there's some agreement. I guess its pretty safe to say that if they're getting scared by Alice its time to stop.
I just remembered the Little mermaid ride at California Adventure. Does anyone know where that would fit in with the others?

I would say Little Mermaid is is possibly a bit more scary than Peter Pan, but not by much. The only scary part is Ursula's Lair, which my nieces and nephews weren't that scared of. As a whole LM seems way less dark than the traditional Fantasyland rides and that helped a lot.

 

[Homemom]

I would say Little Mermaid is is possibly a bit more scary than Peter Pan, but not by much. The only scary part is Ursula's Lair, which my nieces and nephews weren't that scared of. As a whole LM seems way less dark than the traditional Fantasyland rides and that helped a lot.

I would agree with this. My DD3 loved it and wasn't bothered by Ursula. We rode it at least 5 or 6 times everyday on our last trip, it was her favorite. (We only rode Peter Pan once all week, she didn't care for it this time .)